Costa Rica: This Photo Makes Me Happy

Looking at this photo makes me really happy.  First, Zadie is so beautiful.  But more than being beautiful, she just looks so alive and fun.  What a little character she is.

I wasn't happy about the fact that Tori wanted to take the kids to Costa Rica for two months, but when I look at this picture of Zadie, I feel happy that she and her siblings got to have this wild experience.  I think it's been an amazingly fun time for them -- as Zadie reminds me every time we Skype, in Costa Rica she gets to have either an ice cream or a popsicle every day!  I'm not sure how much she and Skip will remember of all their adventures, but I'm pretty sure they'll remember the ice cream part.

Costa Rica: Charlie and the Blue Suit

Tori's sister Katie and her family are now in Costa Rica with Tori, our kids, and Grandma Linda.  Before Katie arrived, Tori and Linda gave her a list of a million items they needed her to bring.  Katie was such a good sport about this.

One of the top items was rash guards for the kids because they're basically spending all day in the sun.  And poor little Charlie is rather on the fair-skinned side.  So Tori found this super-duper blue suit thingie on the internet and had it delivered to Katie's house.  It's quite the funny little number, especially with Charlie's physique!

Costa Rica: Zadie and the Frog

Tori emailed me this picture tonight.  She said she was taking a shower when Zadie came running in to show her what she had caught.  She's braver than I am!

More About My New Job

I love the diversity of scenes within the park. This is Upper Las Virgenes Canyon, which is just adjacent to the park border and is maintained by a partner agency.  Grasslands with the Santa Susana Mountains in the background.

And of course there are stunning coastline views -- this is the hills above Malibu looking at Santa Monica Bay and the Palos Verdes Peninsula in the distance (Catalina Island is just visible on the right).

When I left my job with the Peace Corps, I kind of felt like I had to go through a grieving process because I had worked for the agency either as a volunteer or a staffer for 10 of the previous 13 years and I was so deeply and personally connected to the agency.  Though I felt excited about my new position, I also felt sad that I probably wouldn't like my new job nearly as much.  If it wasn't for Peace Corps' rule about not working for the agency for more than five consecutive years, I would have happily stayed much longer.

So it is with surprise that I am now thinking I will like my new job better than my last.  It will take time, of course, to acclimate and learn the ins and outs of my new job, but I think I will get to work on more challenging issues with multiple levels of complexity.  It's invigorating to learn more about wildlife, nature, land acquisition strategies, legislative affairs, and new technologies.  

As an example, last week I spent a half-day in the field with our large carnivore expert, learning about mountain lions, tracking their movements via GPS collars, what their biggest challenges are, etc.  This particular individual has spent his entire career studying mountain lions all over the world and is the ultimate subject matter expert.  Yesterday I spent the afternoon with our planning and land use expert, touring current and prospective sites for development and getting a better understanding of the challenges related to habitat preservation in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the nation.  And I could go on!

Like all jobs, I'm sure I'll have days when I feel extremely frustrated -- and I can already see that the workload is going to be challenging -- but when that happens please refer me back to this post so that I can be reminded of how fortunate I am!

Costa Rica: Goofballs with Pipe Cleaners

Tori and her mom are both good at facilitating creativity with our kids, so apparently they took our supply of fuzzy pipe cleaners to Costa Rica with them.  A few nights ago I got a flurry of photos with the kids wearing pipe cleaners in a variety of creative ways, so here is a sampling!

Goodbye to My Very First Car

Friends decorated my truck for my 17th bithday, a year after I first brought it home.

This is the 2012 version. Tori forgot to put the emergency brake on a few years ago and  it crashed into a wall.

Although I'm embarrassed by it now, I talked my parents into buying me a car when I turned 16.  It took many, many months of persuasion but in the end I'm not sure whether they believed my argument that the old Volkswagen Rabbit was unsafe (it does seem like a death trap when I look back on it) or if I just wore them down.  Either way, the Rabbit that was good enough for my three preceding siblings was not good enough for me and I talked them into a much "safer" model (much to the irritation of my sister!).

My dad said I could use this vehicle from age 16 to 18 and it was being purchased for their convenience only (so they wouldn't have to drive me around).  They made it clear that I had no rights to ownership.

My dad pored over Auto Traders and decided he wanted to buy a small pick-up truck.  He was determined it would be a manual transmission because, for whatever reason, he didn't want any child of his to go through life not knowing how to drive a stick shift.

He found a 1992 Toyota pickup truck with 9,000 miles that was listed for $6500 (this was in 1993) and he scheduled a time to see the car.  Before we left I remember him calling to tell them he intended to buy the car and asking what their lowest price would be so he could bring the cash with him.  They told him $6000.  I still don't understand that negotiation strategy: I'm going to buy this car so tell me what your lowest price is.  Anyway, it worked for him.

I was excited about this little white pickup truck and thought it was very cool -- 100 times cooler than the Rabbit, which rattled like crazy and had many other not-so-endearing traits.  My dad paid them for the truck and he drove it home while I followed in a different car (I didn't know how to drive a stick at that point).

The next day I had a track meet about 45 minutes away and my dad made me drive the truck there, which he said was "baptism by fire."  When I was getting off the freeway I downshifted from fifth to second gear and I thought the car was going to explode.  That was the only time my dad looked really concerned.

That was the first weekend I had my truck, and it's been a great and very special car that has seen me through many adventures, accidents, and travels.  I say "my" truck because my parents are softies and they didn't really stick to their guns about the truck not belonging to me, though I didn't drive it for many years while I was in the Peace Corps and living in San Francisco.

For the past four years, Tori's brother Hank has driven the truck as part of his pay package for being our nanny.  He was always asking if he could buy it from us, and we finally gave in and sold it to him for 80 babysitting hours.  So this great truck I've had since I was 16 years old is mine no more -- he finally finished all his hours last week.

It's a bit worse for the wear (see the before and after photos above), but I do feel sad to let go of this great truck!

First Week on the Job

I just completed my first week at the National Park Service and I'm really pleased with the content of the work, the co-workers, and the overall feel of the agency.  I feel incredibly fortunate, especially during this difficult job market, to have landed this job.  I spent Friday touring the western side of the parks and off-roading through the back roads with a ranger.  Lucky me.

It's a little overwhelming to go from being an expert at my old job to a totally blank state at my new one.  But it's also exciting to think how much I will learn in the next year.  Soon I'll (hopefully) know all about the plants and wildlife in the Mediterranean ecosystem, as well as have a thorough understanding of the the policy issues that are so important to the park and its surroundings.  

I now know of a few great spots that I want to take the kids when they get back and I'm envisioning picnics with cheese and salami and lots of space for them to run around and get their wiggles out!